2021 – Page 11 – Peace Corps Worldwide

RPCV (Thailand) First Woman Head of YMCA

Aug 09 2021

YMCA of the USA Names Suzanne McCormick as Next President and CEO Source: YMCA of the USA Chicago, IL, Aug. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Suzanne McCormick (Thailand 1989-91) has been named president and chief executive officer of YMCA of the USA (Y-USA). She will be the 15th person and first woman to lead the Y in the United States. McCormick brings more than 27 years of experience as a senior and executive leader in nonprofit, for-impact organizations to the role, most recently serving as U.S. President of United Way Worldwide and a member of their global management team. McCormick’s s tenure with Y-USA will officially begin in September, replacing Kevin Washington, the organization’s first Black president and CEO who is retiring after serving as Y-USA’s president and CEO for more than six years and after more than 40 years of service to the YMCA. “The National Board began the search for Kevin Washington’s successor with the goal of . . .

CUAHI LI HIX – Peace Corps stories by Barbara Wheeler (Belize)

Aug 07 2021

Imagine yourself at 22, barely a year out of college, and the United States government determines that you are qualified to not only teach — (yes, we have all been there, but also to live on your own in a remote Mayan village in southern Belize: no running water, no electricity, no mode of transportation other than your own two feet. It could be a complete disaster . . . or a recipe for a delightful novel retelling the hilarity! “Cuahi li hix” (qua hee lee heesh) is a common farewell salutation offered by the Mayans to bring forth luck to the traveler. Literally translated, it means “Beware the tiger!” This may seem odd since there are no tigers in Central America, but volunteers soon learned that “tiger” comes in many forms: snakes, bats, scorpions, voracious insects, monkeys, turkeys, rabid dogs, illnesses, and, yes, sometimes even jaguars. Cuahi li Hix describes . . .

The Peace Corps Gets A Raise!

Aug 07 2021

The House Votes a Boost in Peace Corps Funding. And Registration Is Opening Soon for Peace Corps Connect 2021. We got some good news from Congress on July 28: The House of Representatives approved a $430.5 million Peace Corps budget for fiscal year 2022. That’s an increase of $20 million — nearly 5 percent. It could point to the first meaningful increase in funding in six years. We’ve also seen increasing bipartisan support for the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021, introduced by RPCV Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) and colleague Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA). The legislation would bring some much-needed reforms for a better and stronger Peace Corps. If you’re meeting with your members of Congress in the weeks ahead, support for this legislation — and funding — are critical items to have on the agenda. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet taken up the State Department/Foreign Operations bill, which would include funding for the Peace Corps. But . . .

PCV Women who made a Difference in Ethiopia after their tours

Aug 07 2021

By Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965-67) Ethiopian Tsehai Wodajo’s life was changed by a young Swedish woman, Eva Nordin, who showed up in Tsehai’s village in Ethiopia more than 40 years ago. Eva saw Tsehai’s potential and made it possible for her to stay in high school and to go on to university. Tsehai never forgot Eva who made such a difference in her life and was inspired to find a way to provide that opportunity for other girls and young women. She and her friends Hanna Getachen-Kreusser and Ann (Chartrand) Jensen (Ethiopia 1964-66) (the first PCV in Bahar Dar) had the idea for Resources Enriching African Lives — REAL. In 2004 Tsehai and Ann traveled to Ethiopia to establish the first REAL site in Nedjo, in western Ethiopia, with a local supervising committee and a mentor for 15 girls. REAL has grown to 8 sites, and is currently opening . . .

Review — LETTERS FROM A WONDROUS EMPIRE by Cynthia Nelson Mosca (Ethiopia)

Aug 05 2021

Letters from a Wondrous Empire: An Epistolary Memoir by Cynthia Nelson Mosca (Ethiopia 1967–69) A Peace Corps Writers Book July 2021 182 pages $14.99 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by William Hershey (Ethiopia 1968-70) • It took more than 50 years and the COVID-19 Pandemic, but Cynthia Nelson Mosca has written a memoir that captures the best of what it meant to be a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia in the late 1960s. Cindy didn’t spend half a century writing the book. Her life, especially directing an ESL (English as a second language) bilingual program in Cicero, Illinois, was too full and busy for that. The book is based on letters she sent home to her family while teaching at a secondary school in Woldia, a small town in northern Ethiopia, from 1967 to 1969. Before her aunt and mother died, they gave her all the letters. Until early 2020 . . .

David Schweidenback (Ecuador) Pedals for Progress

Aug 05 2021

Pedals for Progres by Zachary Sherry Borgen Magazine August 5, 2021 David Schweidenback (Ecuador 1978-80) founded Pedals for Progress after his time in the Peace Corps. It is now one of the largest distributors of used bikes to developing nations. Since 1991, Pedals for Progress (P4P) has operated as a non-profit organization in New Jersey. It started when Mr. Schweidenback noticed an abundance of bikes thrown into garbage in his neighborhood during a bleak financial time while working as a carpenter. Connecting his experience overseas with what Americans were wasting at home, he chose to make a difference. Schweidenback spoke with The Borgen Project in an interview. He explained, “I decided if I wasn’t doing anything and I’m not making money and I’m just sitting here bored, I’m going to go out and collect a dozen bikes and I’m going to ship them back to Ecuador. Just like a freebie, a . . .

The Volunteer Who Was at the Epicenter of Contemporary National Events — Ben Bradlee, Jr. (Afghanistan)

Aug 04 2021

A Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963–65) • BEN BRADLEE, JR.* WAS A copy boy at the Boston Globe during summers before graduating from Colby College in Maine with a major in Political Science. He then served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan from 1970 to 1972, where he reported for an English-language newspaper in Kabul. Returning home, Ben went into a journalistic career which placed him at the center of several national events, beginning by working for several years at the Riverside Press in California. He then spent most of his journalistic career at the Boston Globe. There he was successively State House reporter, investigative reporter, national correspondent, political editor, and metropolitan editor. In 1993, he was promoted to Assistant Managing Editor responsible for investigations and projects. In that role, Ben edited the Globe’s reportage that uncovered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston’s repeated cover-ups of . . .

Review — WARRIOR LOVE: Silas Loves Lili, Weirdly Lili Loves Silas

Aug 01 2021

Warrior Love: Silas Loves Lili Weirdly Lili Loves Silas by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1964-66) Published by Stephen Foehr 373 pages July 2021 $6.99 (Kindle); $10.98 (Paperback Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76) • I am not the ideal person to review this book. I am approximately three times the age of the average member of the book’s target demographic. Also, I have never in my life gone into a bar (much less a biker bar) with the expressed purpose of starting a fight to test my bravery and courage. The one time I did step between two would-be combatants trying to prevent a fight, I was extremely grateful that neither of them decided to attack me! In the opening scene, Silas walks into a biker bar named the Knotty Hole wearing a kilt, no shirt, and a black leather vest with a rhinestone eagle on the back. And . . .

A Peace Corps Marriage: A Commitment to Nonprofits, and to Each Other

Jul 30 2021

A Commitment to Nonprofits, and to Each Other In 2014, Derek Owens and Chelsea Segal randomly sat next to each other at the orientation session for their two-year stint in the Peace Corps. “Two of you will get married, it always happens,” the facilitator told the cohort of 48 people on the crest of their placement in Panama. “I was certain it would not be me,” said Mr. Owens, now 32. After growing up in the small town of Bluffton, S.C., Mr. Owens graduated from Clemson University in 2011, and then worked in a family-owned printing company. “I went into the Peace Corps wanting to learn more about myself and the people I would be living with,” he said. “I was absolutely committed to not getting attached.” Ms. Segal, now 30, felt similarly. After a childhood in Miami, she attended the University of Michigan, from which she . . .

RPCV Reverend Charles Cloughen (Micronesia) writes a book about money

Jul 29 2021

An Episcopal priest for more than 50 years and the Planned Giving Officer at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Baltimore, Maryland, the Rev. Charles Cloughen Jr. ’64 [Micronesia 1966–68] lends his insights on giving to his new book, One Minute Stewardship, Creative Ways to Talk about Money in Church. With both practical wisdom and theological insight into how churches can increase their financial resources, Cloughen has collected meditations from faith leaders around the country to create a year-round resource for rectors, pastors, ministers, worship leaders and anyone concerned about their churches’ stewardship. At the heart of the Reverend’s theology of stewardship, he says, are six key words: thank you, thank you, thank you. “It’s all about personal relationships,” Cloughen says. “Generosity and gratitude grows. People who are generous become more generous.” Inspired by the story of the widow’s mite from the Gospel of Mark, Cloughen’s theology of stewardship also includes the . . .

Remembering Jerry Black: A Legacy of Service (Comoros Islands)

Jul 28 2021

Steve Kaffen Remembers Jerry Black Jerry Black (Comoros Island 1992-94; PC Office of Inspector General 2010-21) passed away from gun violence on June 29, 2021. I worked with Jerry in OIG, and on Sunday, August 25th, attended a “Celebration of Life Service” at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Bethesda, MD along with members of OIG (past and present), the Peace Corps community, and Jerry’s family. In addition, over 120 participated via Zoom. The speakers were principally from Jerry’s family, including his wife Cathy Feingold and their oldest son, Myles. The service contained interludes of live music in recognition of Jerry’s facility with trumpet and guitar. Representing the agency, Kate Raftery, Expert Consultant in the Peace Corps’ Office of the Director, expressed the agency’s condolences and detailed Jerry’s lifelong commitment to international development and to the Peace Corps, which included service as a secondary school English teacher in the Comoros . . .

Dolores Johnson (Nepal) — Retired Nurse lived for Adventures

Jul 27 2021

Retired Nurse who lived for Adventures By Tampa Bay Times Reporter Kristen Hare (Guyana 2000-02) Dolores Johnson (Nepal 2002-04) was born in Jamaica and made her home in Florida. She died at 84. Four Peace Corps volunteers left their posts in Nepal and, for 10 days, traveled by train across India. They saw the Taj Mahal and the city of Kolkata. Sometimes, they rode in air-conditioned sleeper cars. Sometimes, they could only get tickets in third class. One night, they discovered they only had two sleeper seats for four people. So they folded down the seats and piled in, attempting a little sleep. Naomi Odell tucked herself next to her friend, Dolores Johnson. “That whole trip I felt kind of bad,” said Odell, then just out of college. “Poor Dolores.” Mrs. Johnson was in her early 60s then, retired, a new grandmother and the eldest among the . . .

Review — LAST BEST HOPE: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer (Togo)

Jul 26 2021

Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer (Togo 1982-83) 240 pages Farrar, Straus and Giroux June 2021 $27.00 (Hardback); $13.99 (Kindle); $7.95 (Audiobook) Reviewed by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) • I immediately said yes when I was asked to review George Packer’s new book, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, a self-described political pamphlet in a long-form essay, not unlike Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and other such books, written in a period of change, about that very change. Written for the moment, the authors’ hopes are that they will lead us out of our urgent predicament and tell us something we can use in the future. I remembered that Packer had been a signee of the famous or some would say infamous “Harper’s Magazine Letter,” in which established writers and artists wrote A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, decrying the fact . . .

RPCV JEREMY BLACK 1968 – 2021 (Comoros)

Jul 25 2021

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-87) Washington Post Jeremy M. Black (Comoros 1992-94) Jeremy M. Black, 53, beloved husband, father, son, brother, nephew, and uncle, passed away needlessly from gun violence on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. Jeremy is the husband of Cathy Feingold and father of two sons, Myles, 17, and Alex, 15. He dedicated his professional life to international development. After earning an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, he served as a volunteer for the Peace Corps in the Comoros Islands, leading to a lifelong passion of promoting a deeper understanding between people across and within borders. Jerry went on to receive his graduate degree from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, along with his wife, Cathy Feingold. Jerry and Cathy worked together at the Ford Foundation before moving to Washington, DC, where Jerry worked at the Aspen Institute . . .

A Peace Corps worker was on a date in D.C. with his wife. Then came a stray bullet.

Jul 25 2021

A Peace Corps worker was on a date in D.C. with his wife. Then came a stray bullet. Jeremy “Jerry” Black, a Peace Corps worker, was fatally shot on 14th Street NW on June 29, 2021. By Theresa Vargas Columnist Cathy Feingold doesn’t know who the women were or what lives they had led. All she knows is that they appeared during one of her darkest moments and knew exactly what to do as her husband lay on a busy Northwest D.C. sidewalk, dying from a gunshot wound. That night in June, as Feingold tells it, she and her husband, Jeremy Black, a Peace Corps worker who had dedicated his life to helping others, had been on a date. They had enjoyed dinner with two friends at a 14th Street restaurant and, because the weather was welcoming, decided to take a walk. The four made it only a few blocks . . .

Archive - 2021